


And That's a C- In Romance

by BeYourOwnAnchor



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Derek is an AP US History teacher, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-07 04:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1885491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeYourOwnAnchor/pseuds/BeYourOwnAnchor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek can’t be with Stiles.  It’s blatantly obvious because Derek <i>is his teacher</i> .  And while the thought of Stiles being with someone else discourages Derek, all he really wants is for Stiles to be happy.  What makes Stiles happy? Lydia Martin.  And Derek will do everything in his power to get Stiles what he wants, no matter what Mr. Calvin Klein—he means <i>Jackson Whittemore</i> has to say about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Shit Day of the Shit Year

Derek has no idea why he’s a high school teacher.An AP US History high school teacher at that.He fucking loathes teenager, but thrives on History.  

Ever since Derek attended his own AP US History class back in high school, to put it frankly, he’d sunk deeper and deeper into the depths of a nerd.But he’d accepted it with open arms.  

And as a result of some _truly_ horrific decision making skills, solely on his part, here he is bright and early on the first shit day of the shit school year wearing a _sweater vest,_ because, why the hell not?It’s the first day of the school year and it’s not like any of his new students will actually be paying attention to him during the first week, or for the rest of the _year,_ for that matter.

Unfortunately, due to budget cuts all of Derek’s morning classes are _regular_ US History classes with very _regular_ morons.Like that McCall kid from first period who nearly skipped into his classroom as though he were walking on a rainbow while carrying a bag full of ‘breakfast’.   

Normally, Derek wouldn’t be skeptical of students eating in his classroom.Especially during first period.He’s just as human as anyone else, understands that some mornings are more difficult than others and that breakfast is an essential need for anyone.But when he gets kids in his room that pull out a ziplock bag full of old pizza and ask to go down to the teacher’s lounge to heat it up, on the _first day back_ , he’s got a feeling he’s gonna be spending a lot of time praying for the patience to simply just get through the day.   

His only saving grace of the day was 7th period where, _hopefully,_ he may have at least two students give him the time of day.It was his only AP period of the entire day, and considering he’d just spent the last 6 hours of his life with a bunch of students who, more or less. would accept a D minus in his class and be on their merry little way, he was feeling a bit antsy and _nervous_ about greeting his AP students for the first time.He knew at least some of them would actually give a shit, even on the first day.Granted, it’s usually the annoying, but always present in an AP class, overachiever kids.But Derek supposes paying extra special attention to him on the first day to begin their undoubtedly long journey of overachieving is much success compared to kids who bring in leftover pizza and when they’re told that, no, they might not warm up aforementioned leftover pizza in the teacher lounge, they proceed to eat it anyway with a smug grin on their face.

Fucking McCall.

So, anyway.Derek was feeling a bit overwhelmed when the bell finally sounded and his 6th period class, who he’d given up on talking to 30 minutes ago, bolts out the door.He starts raking his eyes over his syllabus that he’s literally read 6 times today, checking for any faults that could damn near make him cringe when presenting them to an AP class.It’s all there, the grading scale, what he expects of his students, and there’s even an extra page for AP students explaining what will be expected of them and details about just how advance the class will be.  

Derek figures he’s wasted a good minute and a half when he looks down at his navy Ralph Lauren sweater vest and thinks he’s about to barf.He looks like a total nark, and while yes, he is in fact a teacher, and sure he’s no ones favorite teacher (clearly, he teaches fucking US History), but he’s not one of _those_ teachers.Not one of those teachers that prances around like they’re the shit and coaches every sport and has so many professional button downs with slightly varying shades that his wardrobe might as well be the same thing.He’s not like Peter, who to no ones surprise was fired last fall for having sexual relations with a student.Derek always knew Peter was a little _too_ close for comfort with his students.

Derek would never have that problem, though.He couldn’t even get his students to _pay attention to him_.

In the midst of his first-day-back-at-my-shit-job-meltdown his first student for his AP class walks in and he’s _smiling_.

It’s some lanky kid, looks kind of awkward.Totally the AP type, Derek thinks as he offers a nervous half smile.This only seems to make awkward, lanky kid’s beam even brighter.Derek watches him walk through the door, the jitters exploding in his stomach in an array that makes Derek believe his whole body is about 5 seconds away from shutting down.He’s hoping the kid will just pick a seat and remain silent for the rest of the period, like all of the rest of them had, but this kid doesn’t even look at the desks.   

Derek’s eyebrows knit together in frustration because he does not have the capacity for overly curious newbies today nor for uncomfortable, longer-than-necessary eye contact.   

It’s only a half a second later that Derek realizes that awkward, lanky kid isn’t even staring at his _eyes._ No, they’re focused much too low for it to be considered eye contact.And as his first student approaches him all he can think is _this kid is even more awkward than I thought_.  

Somehow, that makes Derek feel a _little_ better about himself.  

“Dude, that’s a cool sweater vest.”Is all he says in a tone that suggests he’s being anything but sarcastic, before he strides past Derek’s desk and into the first seat directly in front of Derek.

It’s going to be a long year.

 

* * *

 

He finds that there’s only 12 students in his 7th period AP class.

It takes him all of five minutes into reading his syllabus to find _the_ student.The student who’s going to drive him crazy all year with their interruptions to correct his speech and/ or grammar, punctuation, etc.And the worst part of it all is _the student_ is a 5 foot 3 inches strawberry blonde teenage girl who is absolutely frightening and is _always_ painfully right.Derek kind of wishes he could just leave and let her teach the class for him, she’d petrify them all into listening to her.It’s a win win for everyone, really.And then there’s the kid sitting next to her who looks like he swallowed Calvin Klein whole who’s _already_ asking about bonus opportunities because it’s clear he’s only taking the class to be with the vicious, yet intellectual strawberry blonde girl. 

Awkward, lanky kid makes a few offhand comments as Derek goes over the syllabus.None of them make any sense to Derek so he just keeps going as though the kid hadn’t just made half the class laugh, but other than that he seems _almost_ respectful.That’s progress to Derek.  

When, _thank god_ , he’s finished reading over the syllabus he figures he should take the role.

He learns that his new prodigy’s name is Lydia Martin, and that there’s no way in hell he’ll ever be able to pronounce Danny’s last name properly.  

Derek glances at the next name on his list and almost dies a little inside.

_Scott McCall.Not again._

“Please tell me McCall isn’t in this class too.”He says looking away from his roster to the varying reactions of his students.Mr. Calvin Klein looks pretty smug about Derek’s comment, Lydia looks indifferent, Danny really doesn’t care.Which, same, Danny, same.  

Realization infiltrates awkward, lanky kid’s face as he says, “Oh yah, I totally forgot.I was supposed to tell you that Scott dropped this class to take regular US History.Sorry about that, uh, _Mr. Hale_.”The way the kid says it makes Derek feel like the kid _knows_ his actual name and he feels uncomfortable calling him by his professional one.

There’s only two names left on Derek’s list and one of them belongs to awkward, lanky kid and the other to Mr. Calvin Klein.He’ll admittedly miss the nicknames, but putting a name with a face will be refreshing.   

Or so he thinks, until he sees some kind of fucking polish keyboard smash name on his list and he just squints his eyes at it, willing it to change into something he can actually _read_.  

“Jesus, I don’t even know-”Derek mutters under his breath quietly so that nearly no one could hear him, nearly.

“Yeah, uh, that’s probably me.”Awkward, lanky kid says as his cheeks burn with color. 

Derek looks up, stunned, because _of fucking course_ this is the kid with the name 2% of the world’s population could pronounce.

“You want to tell me how to say it?”Derek says, furrowing his eyebrows shamelessly.Lydia could probably pronounce it, he thinks.

Reason numero 914 he should not be a teacher.  

“Dude, even _I_ don’t know how to say it.You can just call me Stiles.”Awkward—he means  _Stiles_ informs him, his cheeks still burning pink.

Derek can only muster up an affirmative nod as he crosses out the mess of letters next to Stiles’ last name, Stilinski, and writes out ‘Stiles’ to the side.Something tells him he would’ve remembered it anyway.But just to be on the safe side of problematic teacher meltdowns, Derek writes it out.

The last name on his list is Jackson Whittemore and after 15 minutes of listening to him drone on about how amazing the school’s lacrosse team is gonna be this year with him as their captain, the bell finally sounds and Derek’s pretty sure he hears angels singing.

Most of his students make a run for the door, but the only kid who’s sitting in the very front of his classroom, Stiles, takes his precious time.He fumbles with his backpack and precisely places the syllabus in a new folder.Derek tries to act like he’s got emails or something to check, but the only one he finds is one from Laura and he is _not_ opening that one at the moment.He’s not ready for the influx of questions about his first day of school, like he’s an actual student and school isn’t his job.

In short, all aspects of Derek’s life kind of suck.

Stiles has finally finished packing up his things and he’s just breezed past Derek’s desk, whilst Derek releases a heavy sigh even he knew he’d been holding in, but then Stiles turns back around as though he’s missed something and now he’s persistently standing in front of Derek’s desk just _waiting_.  

“Can I help you?”Derek drawls as he tears his eyes away from his computer screen to meet Stiles’.   

Stiles fidgets nervously with one of the straps of his backpack before he leans in a little closer to Derek and stutters out, “Could you, um, not mention my first name to anyone?It’s.. it’s kind of a touchy subject and I just-” 

Derek cuts Stiles off because he literally looks like he’s either going to vomit or shed tears in about 2 seconds and Derek doesn’t have the time to deal with either.  

Derek offers Stiles an easy smile and even gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze when he promises him, “I won’t tell anyone.Your secrets safe with me.”  

The light that reaches Stiles’ eyes when he tells Derek, “Thanks”, and offers a warm smile in return changes Derek’s perspective of the year.  

Minuscule, at best, but he may actually have a student this year he can actually tolerate.  

_Maybe_.  

 


	2. The Grading Scale

The second day of school, as it turns out, is even worse than the first. 

In first period McCall nearly inhales two poptarts, and then spills his milk on the floor.So Derek spends the rest of his school day staring at a wet caution sign positioned right in front of his desk.   

In periods 2-6 he assigns textbooks, but that’s about as far as his productivity level is feeling with the regular classes.

Then there’s his 7th period AP class, where Derek _knows_ he has to, like, actually do real stuff.He hates it.

But there’s 42 chapters in the AP text book with only 10 months to cover them all in, not to mention the fact that the AP test will be at least two weeks before school ends and Derek is feeling a little overwhelmed and he’s not even taking the class.  

Derek inhales and exhales briskly as his 6th period students clamber out the door.And for a moment he’s just left standing there alone, his notes in his hands, completely relaxed.Then Stiles walks through the door and they make eye contact and then Stiles looks at the wet floor sign and back to Derek. 

What is his life?  

He takes in Stiles, now that they’re acquainted. The way he always seems to be fidgeting no matter if he’s sitting or standing, the way his face perks up at the sight of Derek as if he’s actually excited to see him— _go to Derek’s class_ _—_ he means.His pale skin freckled with cute little moles and the oversized hoodie he’s paired with skinny jeans.  

What the hell Derek? _What the hell?_ It’s literally the second day of school and it doesn’t matter how lonely he is, he needs to get a grip.No matter how many nights he has to spend on the couch alone watching Netflix with empty pizza boxes speckled about will hurt him as much as getting fired would.

“What happened here?”Stiles ask, gesturing toward the wet floor sign, his expression unreadable.

“Why don’t you ask your buddy, McCall.”Derek smirks, a little pleased with himself.  

“Scott did this?”Stiles takes only a moment to ponder before he adds to his question, shaking his head.“Makes sense, he spills stuff at my place all the time.” 

Derek’s eyebrows raise at this new piece of information, “So you two are pretty close then?” 

Stiles studies Derek for a moment, gives him a quizzical glance before his face returns to his normal, bored default setting and he confirms, “Since we were 4.”

And then before Stiles can say anything harshly sarcastic, or Derek stare at Stiles for longer than necessary, Stiles begins to turn and ponder upon his new seat for the day. 

“Well,”Derek says, catching Stiles attention and forcing him to turn himself back around to face Derek.“Since you two are so close, make sure you tell him next time to _not_ inhale his poptarts—or any food for that matter—in two seconds.Seriously, it’s not healthy and watching him today had me nearly gagging.”

Stiles doesn’t even bother to stifle the inevitable chuckle that escapes through his mouth, he even throws his head back gently, unable to contain his amusement.

“Will do.”Stiles finally replies through his glee as he takes the front seat by his old desk, aka he closest desk available to Derek’s at the moment.  

Derek’s other 11 students find their way to his room at varying times, although it’s pretty obvious the clique of his class involves Mrs. know-it-all (Lydia), Mr. Calvin Klein himself (Jackson), and Danny Mahahaha I-have-no-idea-how-to-say-this because they sit pointedly close to each other in the center of his classroom, Lydia being the closest probably so she can have a better view to sharpen her critiquing of Derek’s mishaps. 

Has Derek mentioned how much he _truly_ hates his life?

It takes Derek only a moment to realize Stiles’ new seat for the time being pushes him closer to Lydia, who he now attempts to subtly stare at without any success.The moment Lydia puts her firm gaze on Stiles he looks away. _Smart move_ , Derek thinks sarcastically.And, yeah, he’ll admit he’s being a little harsh and he has no idea where the root of this manner lies, but it’s not like he said it out loud.All teachers judge their students, it’s internationally known.  

That’s the story Dereks sticking with because he’d be damned if he even considered uprooting the real reasoning behind this—this feeling _or whatever_ that keeps hallowing out his insides.   

Thankfully, before Derek can over think his mind to the point of explosion, he realizes he has a lesson to teach.   

He begins smoothly with the introductions of the details of common US fundamentals, Colombus, Indians, Pilgrims etc.Then hands out their chapter packets and tells them they’ll have to get enough index cards for 42 chapters worth of vocabulary words, and when they all moan and groan—especially Jackson—he reminds them that they signed up for the AP course and if they want to pass the test at the end of the year they better be prepared to study their asses off.Except he doesn’t actually say that, but he breaches somewhere close to it.AP students not willing to put the work and time into it really get under his skin if he’s being honest.Derek knows all they really want is the boost in their GPA, and it’s unsettling for him to think about.So, instead, he follows up by ruining more lives by having Lydia give him the details of the affects Europeans had on the Indians when they arrived.

“Are you for real?”Lydia ask with a mock, but also pitying tone.

Derek raises his eyebrows at her skeptically, “Is that a problem for you?”He challenges, and he knows right then he’s having too much fun in this class right now. 

Lydia pointedly scoffs in his direction and then _literally_ sticks her nose in the air when she counters with, “If they don’t know as common knowledge as that then they shouldn’t be in this class.” 

Derek can’t say he disagrees with Lydia, no matter how prideful she may be, but Derek can’t risk leaving out such core knowledge, especially when he knows some of his students definitely don’t know. 

“Well, Lydia, I suspect some don’t, so could you please give us a gentle reminder?”Derek ask, but it’s rhetorical, and the entire time he says this he’s looking at Jackson who’s squirming in his desk seat still probably in shock at the work he’s just been assigned.   

Lydia gives him a wry grin and says, “Most certainly.”Before she starts in a very long, very detailed monologue about the trials and errors of the Europeans and Indians. 

By the end of it, Derek would like to say he’s actually pretty _proud_ of Lydia, but all of that goes to hell when Stiles stares at her for her entire speech as she recounts the brutality of Indians dying off through horrifying disease and Stiles _still_ has this certain gleam in his eyes like Lydia hung the moon.And Derek has this literal _pit_ opening up in his stomach and _hell_ he really doesn’t want to know what that means. 

 

 

* * *

Much too late for Derek’s liking, class ends.

Another thing that disrupts Derek’s liking, though he’s not sure how, is that 11 students leave and 1 student stays firmly planted in his new seat because there’s a wet floor sign by his old one.   

Derek’s not even gonna pretend he doesn’t notice because he literally notices everything Stiles does and Stiles is _the only one in the room_.

“Stiles,”Derek says to get his attention away from the phone he’s now got out on display and is typing furiously at.Stiles looks up sheepishly, clearly knowing the unusual quality of the situated, but he seems open when he sets his phone down and looks at Derek pointedly, waiting for the inevitable questioning to begin.   

“What are you doing?”

Stiles flails a little, fumbles on his words.You know, the usual.“I, uh—look I know it’s probably weird that I stay in here, but I ask that you hear me out.My dads the sheriff and they’re running some big case today and he won’t be home for another _5 hours_ , and normally I’d just go to Scott’s, but he’s got a date with Kira after school so.And I guess none of that really makes sense unless you know that I _completely_ and _totally loathe_ being alone.I’m like one of those puppies that rips up everything they can find when their owners away, I just can’t stand it.”

Derek just _can not_ keep his _giggle—_ giggle!—at bay, but after a moment he’s able to regain composure and form a coherent thought.He raises his eyebrows for good measure of trying to maintain his dignity after he just _fucking giggled in front of Stiles_ , but he has a feeling his hope of remaining as an authority figure over him has all but jumped out the window.Which means the window of opportunity for Derek to be taken seriously has long since past.

Derek’s a decent teacher, he really is, it’s only now that his life has spiraled out of control.  

“Did you say Scotts dating Kira?”Derek asks to deflect because it’s clear Stiles isn’t going to leave and Derek’s most certainly not going to kick Stiles out of his room, although Scott dating Kira is among many things Derek’s heard today that he would’ve never guessed.  

Stiles gives him an unimpressed look before he shakes his head and says in utter disbelief, “I say all of that and _that’s_ the question you ask me?”

Derek gives a inconspicuous smirk before he continues further in his deflection endeavor,“You just said you don’t like being alone, why not go hang out at, like, a coffee shop or something, somewhere there’s people?’

Stiles cards a hand through his already spiky hair, sighs in distress.“I’d still be alone, I don’t know any of those people.”

“Meet new people.”Derek suggests, shrugging his shoulders.

“I _am_.”Stiles says simply, leaning back in the desk so that he’s almost vertical while simultaneously putting both hands behind his head, attempting to look relaxed.Derek has once sat in those chairs before and knows for a fact that they’re anything but.The school’s budget doesn’t exactly allow them to buy nice recliners for every student, however.

There’s a slight pause as Derek tries to decipher the meaning behind Stiles’ words, but Stiles is so complex he’s more than sure only Stiles knows what he’s talking about 80% of the time.

“You know that’s not what I meant—you know what—never mind.If you’re gonna stay at least make yourself useful and give me some friendly critiquing on how I did in class today.”

“Friendly?”Stiles asks with a smirk.  

“Friendly?”He reiterates for dramatics.“And here I was ready to slaughter your hopes and dreams.”

“Your sarcasm is alarming.”Derek responds truthfully.

“Yes, well so are your assignments.Now do you want an honest to God student opinion on your teaching or what?”   

“Well, it’s the only thing I’m going to get out of you that’s useful, so why not?”Derek really can’t help the smugness that’s written across his face, he’s just as good at snark and sarcasm as the best of them, and he can tell Stiles is definitely among the best. 

Stiles squirms in his seat a little, toys with the pencil he’s still got laid out on his desk and then he starts to give an answer.  

“For a stiff, lumberjack looking kind of guy, your teaching is surprisingly pretty good.”Stiles nods, sure of himself.

Derek squints his eyes a little in disbelief as though his eyes were going to help what he just _heard_.  

“I do not look like a lumberjack!”Derek defends, a little to hostile to come across as careless. 

“It’s the beard.I mean, don’t get me wrong, you make it work —”There’s a pause and Stiles flushes, “It’s just, um, not a typical teacher look, you know.”Stiles clears his throat while Derek nods.

“So, you get an A minus for appearance.I would say B plus but that sweater vest you wore yesterday was actually pretty legit.”Stiles says matter-o-fact-ly and Derek can’t help but chortle and scratch at an invisible itch on his neck while his ears turn red.

“Do _you_ have a sweater vest, Stiles?”Derek asks, because I mean, _come on_.He just has to so he can quell his curious mind that is, _fuck_ , gonna get him in so much trouble if he keeps this up.

“No, it wouldn’t really fit in with my hoodies-for-days look I’ve got going on, and I can’t really make it work. _But_ if I _did,_ I probably wouldn’t wear it while the seasons of spring and summer are taking place, just saying.”  

“Noted.Now tell me about something that actually matters, like, content.”  

Stiles mouth twists into some kind of unrecognizable shape and Derek suddenly realizes that this is Stiles deep thinking face.Everything about Stiles is of the unusual variety, and—shit—Derek doesn’t mind _at all._

_“_ I’ll give you a solid B.I mean it was educational, and some aspects were entertaining, but you should focus on giving a little more energy into your lessons. Liven them up.”

Derek blinks in utter astonishment, “Liven them up?Stiles... what?That doesn’t even make sense how am I supposed to—”

Stiles cuts him off,“If you didn’t want my help, you shouldn’t have ask.” 

Yeah, okay, Derek starts to panic a little.  

“No, I _do_ want your help.But why the grading scale?”

Stiles looks a bit smug as he answers,“Soon you’re gonna get to grade my work, so I figured I’d give you an eye opening experience by grading yours.”

Derek rolls his eyes.“Well, I’ve had enough _grading_ for now, _Mr. Stilinski_.Why don’t you do something else useful, like the homework I assigned you so you can get ahead.”

Stiles grimaces, “Not a chance.”  

And then he’s crowding around Derek’s desk and laughing so hard he nearly cries when he sees that Derek’s been playing solitaire on his school issued computer the entire time.   

After the laughter dies down, Stiles begins to share ultimate solitaire strategies with Derek and they play until 6, when Stiles announces that Scott is there to pick him up, though Stiles’ jeep has been at school all day.

“Do your homework!”Derek shouts at Stiles before he begins his departure.

Stiles turns from the door he’s about to exit out of and gives Derek a wry grin, “There’s about a C minus chance of that happening.”

Then Stiles is gone and all Derek can think is _that makes absolutely no fucking sense_.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm truly sorry this took so long to write, and even more remorseful if chapter 2 is packed full of mistakes. I didn't want to wait any longer to post this and that's why it's poorly edited. Anyway, comments are always welcome to let me know how you're liking the story thus far, and if you think it should be continued. I hope everyone that's reading is enjoying. Thank you so much for the comments and kudos on last chapter. ♡
> 
> You can find me on twitter @DSpraybanana and on tumblr at stilinskisking.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> This is something new I'm going to try and write regularly. If you want to see this story continued I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave Kudos and comments, and also thank you if you took the time to read this. 
> 
> You can also contact me on Tumblr at stilinskisking.tumblr.com and Twitter @DSpraybanana


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